Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights Calls on Chevron to Sever Ties to Myanmar

The non-profit Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and its OilWatchdog.org project on Monday called on Chevron CEO David O'Reilly to "immediately sever Chevron's ties to Myanmar's brutal government and personally speak out against its violent suppression of peaceful protest."

"Your ad campaign (('Human Energy')), which a Chevron official said would cost 'in the high tens of millions' of dollars, portrays a company that deeply cares about the world and its future. Given your investment in Myanmar alone, that is a gauzy, gorgeous lie," wrote OilWatchdog cofounder Judy Dugan in a letter she sent to the oil and gas giant.

Chevron has a stake in natural gas fields in the nation of Myanmar, still called by its old name "Burma" by United States officials, via its 2005 purchase of Unocal. Unocal's 28% ownership of natural gas fields with the French oil company Total was, along with other existing investments, excluded from an embargo by the United States and European nations.

"It is surprising that the 2005 change of ownership did not trigger demands for disinvestment by the embargo partners. Chevron should divest now as a moral imperative," stated Dugan.

Recently, Chevron announced a $15 billion stock buyback, which the world's second largest oil and gas corporation said is intended to reward stockholders with a share in the company's recent windfall profits. ExxonMobile did a similar buyback.

Some economists have questioned the buybacks, saying that they might raise issues of the corporations needing more cashflow, while others said they would like to see the companies use their profits to invest in more drilling projects and the building of new rigs. However, the corporations say they have invested all they need to in new drilling and exploration projects for the time being and they want to reward their shareholders.

More amenable economists have said that they would rather see the companies paying money to stockholders than investing in wasteful projects that are not needed for growth.